How to train a puppy to leave chickens alone

I bought two puppies, brothers, 2/3 German Shephard 1/3 Rottweiler mix. I have heard this was a good mix for livestock guardian dogs. They are about four months old now, I got them at about three months old. We figured buy them young and keep them with the livestock and they will be used to living with other animals. They have been doing great during the day. They sleep with our two goats. We have a small chicken coop that essentially is too small for our fourteen chickens now they are getting full grown. We let them free range in our fenced livestock area. The goat barn doubles as a chicken coop, the previous owners had built it to be an oversized chicken coop so we figured let the chickens free to go in there too. The dogs have been doing well until recently. We caught the dogs a couple of times this week messing with the chickens when they are roosting in the evening time. I don't believe the dogs are trying to kill the chickens but could happen possibly when the dogs get older. Any ideas?

I started my Aussie Shepherd this week. He's 3 months old. I take him with me to feed the chickens and gather in eggs. He comes into the coop with me and sits in the doorway while I change the water, feed and gather eggs. He just sits and watches...the birds go to the far corner or get up on the roosts, but he's just guarding the door. I talk to the chickens and tell Jake what a good boy he's being and what a good job he's doing. He gets a head scratch as we leave the coop. So far this has worked for me. My heeler has been away at my daughter's place for about 6 weeks...I'm interested to see if she remembers her manners when she gets back

My shepherd is pretty good with the chickens but he will try to play, which can be dangerous, he gets a squirt with a super soaker if he scares them on purpose but i dont know that id leave him around them unsupervised as a puppy, (mine just turned 1) my last 2 shepherds have mellowed enough at 2 or 3 to be fine with the smaller livestock but im not sure this guy will as he's much higher drive than the last 2... I dont let him have any food with chicken it either, i actually dont have dog allergies now that we've cut out any food with"chicken byproduct meal" out so added bonus. Good luck with your boys

We own and breed German Shepherds and from experience I can say they are not my first choice for a LGD. But... since we have lots of chickens and such I have had to teach our puppy to leave them alone. At 8 weeks she started doing chores with me off leash and any time she let her attention wander to a chicken I gave her the "leave it" command and corrected her. Whne she got to be about 5 months she decided to play "catch the chicken" so, I put the prong collar on her and corrected on leash when she went for one again. She is a smart girl so now at 7 months when she stalks the chickens (she is a puppy after all!) I just shake the prong collar at her and give the "leave it command" along with making her stay on the porch for a time out. She has never actually hurt the birds and I do trust her with them but puppies need constant reinforcement on commands and rules. GS are not fully mature until 2 so you must stay in the training mindset with them until then (always really, they enjoy training). So, that's our puppy's deal. Her mother on the other hand killed a chicken at around 6 months old and we have never been able to break her of that lust for the "really big squeeky toy". She is also has a much higher drive and is high strung in general.

I agree, i was actually wondering who wouldve reccomended them as livestock dogs, i love german shepherds but in my experience they need their person, and the rotties ive known have been similar. First thing i teach my dogs is down, just drop to the ground wherever they are, whatever theyre doing, but you really need that bond and to work them. My last shepherd would go run the fences for us, we could tell him go check the cows and he would, and he would herd them back to us, but i dont think he'd have done well left in the barn at 4 months either. Im not saying it cant be done, but this post does have me doing the shepherd head tilt. I also would be worried about littermate syndrome but im not even going there 😂 i think bear actually mentions that in one of his videos with his dog.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. We will be changing our arrangement with the dogs. I guess it was high hopes and lack of experience with livestock and their guardians having the puppies living in the livestock area.

Youre doing what youre supposed to for a guardian, problem is the pups are a very people oriented mix and im not sure they wont just bond with eachother instead of you or the animals, do some reading on littermate syndrome. I dont want to discourage you, just pointing out some

I agree with Maine Mom on the choice for LGD, I've had reallygreat GSDs that were great with cattle, but not for smaller livestock. In general, I prefer the Australian Shepherd for general purpose LGDs as they are very intelligent and protective without the constant questions of agression towards your livestock. I love my blue heeler, but wouldn't trust her alone with smaller livestock because of the genetic tie to the dingo.

Don't give up. GSDs are head strong but very sharp. It just takes a strong will and a firm hand to teach them.

Honestly for a great well rounded LGD I am a big fan of Great Pyrenees. We have a 4 year old GP and Aussie mix and she is the BEST livestock dog. I would like to have a pair of pure GP to breed in the future.

She had a bit of wanderlust as a pup but now knows her own territory and patrols about 20 acres which includes our homestead and my parents land surrounding us. Noone comes in our road without her clearing them first (unless she is trapped in the house)! Lol.

We have an Anatolian Pyrenees and is an oversized lapdog. She sleeps at the foot of our bed with the Frenchies. We got her before we had livestock and she spends half the time inside. We love her but not much of a working dof.